Clothes Make the Girl
by Rasberry Parfait
Summary: It worked on tv. Heck, even Taylor and Gabriella had experiences of it working. Kelsi was just the exception to prove the rule. Ryelsi oneshot. Rated K for Koalas.


Clothes Make the Girl

Clothes Make the Girl

Title: Clothes Make the Girl

Summary: It always worked on TV. Heck, both Taylor and Gabriella had experience of it working. Kelsi was just the exception that proved the rule. Ryelsi oneshot. Rated K for Koalas.

Author: Rasberry Parfait

Inspiration: No idea. I was reading Ryelsi fics, and I got up to make toast and was waiting for the toast to pop up…

A/N: How I connected toast with the song Clothes Make the Girl, I don't even know. But I'm glad I did, because I really like this fic. Review please!

Kelsi sat at the table, doodling absent-mindedly on the cover of her notebook, smiling softly.

"Who's the boy?" Taylor demanded, sitting down with Gabriella. Kelsi looked up, startled. Gabriella and Taylor were staring at her with evil smiles plastered on their faces. Gabriella quickly grabbed the notebook from Kelsi, examined it once, then turned it around to show Kelsi.

"Little hearts?" she asked, smiling. "Who is it, Kels?"

Kelsi turned bright red and stuttered "I-I don't exactly k-know w-what you're t-talking ab-"

"Save it, Kelsi. You couldn't be more obvious." Taylor said, but she was grinning, more kindly now, not the slightly maniacal expression she'd worn only moments ago.

"Why won't you tell us? Don't you trust us?" Gabriella asked, pouting dramatically.

Kelsi sighed, pushing her glasses up. "Of course I do. There's just nothing to say. I was just doodling."

"Hearts." Taylor reminded her, handing back her notebook.

"What else would I doodle? I'm not that kind of artist. That's the only thing I can draw."

"Anyone can draw flowers, Kelsi. And little happy faces." Gabriella pointed out.

"And that was an over-thought cover-up." Taylor added.

Kelsi sighed. "Well, sor-ree." She muttered.

"Ooh, angsty." Taylor said, sounding excited, like she were watching a movie.

"Well, yeah." Gabriella said. "She's all full of pent-up passion."

Kelsi rolled her eyes. "Okay." She admitted. "There's a guy."

"Really? Who? Do we know him?"

"Um, yeah."

"Well, who is he?" Gabriella insisted impatiently.

Kelsi didn't respond.

"Come on, Kels. Tell us!" Taylor insisted.

Kelsi still didn't respond.

"At least tell us what he's like." Gabriella pleaded.

At this, Kelsi smiled slightly. "Okay." She agreed.

"He's cute…he can be funny…he's always been really nice to me, even before anybody knew who I was…he's sweet and he's smart, but nobody thinks he is…"

"Cute, kinda funny, really nice, and smart but nobody knows it." Taylor checked off.

"Is it…Jason? It's Jason, isn't it?" Gabriella asked excitedly.

"No. It isn't Jason." Kelsi answered. She tried not to smile…they were so off.

"So," Taylor asked, "Is he a friend? Or somebody you barely know?"

"Um…" Kelsi struggled to word it. "We aren't exactly friends, he does know I exist though...I've known him forever…he just…I don't know that he's actually registered the fact that I'm a girl yet." She said, with a hint of sadness at the end.

Gabriella and Taylor nodded sympathetically.

"You know what you need?" Taylor asked. Kelsi knew what she was going to say before she said it. 'Please, no, anything but that...' she knew they would not let her get out of it, if her theory was correct.

"A makeover!"

Fate was so cruel. And Karma, she asked in her head, What did I even do?

The bell rang.

"Meet us after school, Kelsi." Taylor said.

Kelsi sighed. It was going to be a long day.

"I dunno, Gabi." Taylor said, casting a critical eye over Kelsi. "I think it makes her look too pale…"

"Yeah, I think you're right." Gabriella agreed. "We can either go the baby-doll top route and make use her petite figure, or we can do skinny jeans to make her look taller, but not both."

"Let's do the baby doll top." Taylor decided. Kelsi exhaled in relief. She hated skinny jeans. Maybe it was just her, but they seemed like they'd be really uncomfortable to walk in. And how could you not get a wedgie in pants that tight?

"Okay," Gabriella agreed. "You go pick out more clothes. I'm taking her to a hairstylist."

"But…I'm wearing a hat. Right?" Kelsi asked.

"Well, makeovers are about change, Kelsi, and you always wear hats."

"Well, yeah…and I have no intention to change that."

Gabriella sighed. "Fine. At least leave your hair down under it."

Kelsi considered this for a moment, then nodded her agreement.

"Yes!" Gabriella responded internally, grabbing Kelsi by the hand and dragging her away from the dressing rooms toward a hair salon.

Kelsi groaned internally.

Kelsi walked in to school that day more self-conscious than she'd been in awhile. Denim capris-check. Black sleeveless baby doll top-check. Poofy sleeved white top under it-check. Pink ballet flats-check. Orange fedora-check. Lip gloss? Eyeshadow? Check. Gabriella had said it would make her eyes pop.

Kelsi sighed. She was doing a lot of that lately. She didn't blame Taylor and Gabriella-to them, cute clothes equaled confidence. Kelsi was just the exception that proved the rule.

At least she hadn't seen anybody she knew yet. She didn't have to hand out explanations right off the bat.

Until she thought that. Then she jinxed it.

As she turned from her locker, she saw Chad and Troy coming towards her. Even from where they were, she saw them looking confused, but they didn't slow their pace.

This was not comforting at all. In the time between her first seeing them and their arrival, her thoughts consisted mainly of the word "Crap." And then there they were.

"Um, hey Kels." Chad said. "You look…different."

She blushed. Troy rolled his eyes. "You look nice, Kelsi." he said, smiling kindly at her.

She blushed harder.

"What? Oh, yeah, you do. You know, different, but nice." Chad interjected. Troy rolled his eyes again.

"You're still coming to rehearsal, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay. See you later."

"See you."

As they walked away, her thoughts consisted of the same word as before. How was she going to handle what _he _said, when she couldn't handle what Chad and Troy said? What _would _he say?

Only time would tell.

She ran into the theater late. Luckily, the performance was too all-thought consuming for Ms. Darbus to really acknowledge that fact.

"Nice of you to join us, Ms. Nielson." Ms. Darbus said as she sat down at the piano.

"Sorry."

Sharpay, of course, didn't notice; she rarely noticed what anyone besides herself wore.

But of course, it wasn't Sharpay Kelsi was trying to impress.

Ryan Evans strolled up to the piano at one of the rare times when neither of them had anything to do.

"Hi, Kelsi." He said quietly.

She looked up from her sheet music.

"Oh…h-hi, Ryan."

"You look…different."

It wasn't how Chad had said it, bluntly. He was quieter and more thoughtful, like he was thinking quite hard about something.

"Oh…um…"

"It looks nice," he assured her. "Just, you know, different."

His words were essentially the same as Chad's, but they carried a far heavier weight.

"Um, th-thanks, Ryan."

He smiled.

"RYAN!!" Sharpay screamed. "GET OVER HERE!!"  
He looked over his shoulder and scowled. "I'd guess I'd better go."

"Yeah," Kelsi said, trying to hide her disappointment. "Guess so."

"See you later, Kels."

"Yeah. See you, Ryan."

Gabriella came up behind her and sat down next to her on the bench.

"Hello? Earth to Kelsi." She said, smiling, as Kelsi watched him walk away. Kelsi looked at her, already turning red.

"Oh, hey, Gabriella." She said. "Did you want to run through the song really quickly?"

Gabriella ignored this. "See? We were right."

"What?"

"You should have told me and Taylor that it was Ryan, Kels."

"It's not Ryan."

She ignored that, too. "We could've saved a ton of time, money and trouble. Ryan's liked you since forever."

"But its not-wait, he has?"

"Well, yeah! You didn't notice?" Gabriella exclaimed. "Wait, so it is Ryan?" she asked, giving her a conspiratorial smile.

Kelsi returned the smile. "Maybe," she said.

"You so love him." Gabriella accused, giggling.

"Do not," Kelsi retorted, but she was blushing.

The next day, Kelsi was back in her usual attire, and on time to rehearsal.

"Hey, Kelsi." Ryan said, leaning against the piano and smiling.

She looked up, as startled as the day before. Ryan had away of walking silently, sneaking up on you.

He also had a way of making her nervous.

"Oh, h-hey, Ryan. How are you?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. You?"

"Same."

He nodded.

"So, you look really nice today, Kels."

She blushed harder than ever before.

"Um, thank you, Ryan." She said, smiling down at her piano keys.

He smiled at her.

And of course, she blushed, if possible, even harder.

"So," Ryan asked, "I was wondering if…maybe, you might wanna…"

"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him.

"You know, if you might wanna hang out some time?"

"You mean as in, a date?" the words slipped out before she registered what she was saying.

"Um, yeah…" Ryan said nervously. "Like a date."

She grinned. "I'd love to, Ryan."

"Really? Cool. I'll, uh, call you."

"Looking forward to it." It was surprising how easily the words came out when they were honest. Not that she had lied before, she just hadn't been saying what she'd been wanting to.

"Cool."

"RY-"  
"I'M COMING, SHARPAY!!"  
"IT DOESN'T TAKE THAT LONG TO ASK SOMEONE OUT!!"

The auditorium burst out into laughter. Even Ryan and Kelsi laughed quietly along.

"See you, Kels."

"See ya, Ryan."

As he walked away, she couldn't help but feel a little smug.

Psh. Makeovers. Who needs 'em?

A/N: Well, what did you think? Let me know, guys. And gals. And I also feel inclined to inform you that the last part, where Sharpay and Ryan are screaming across the stage at each other, was completely spontaneous; I almost didn't realize I was typing it until I was halfway through Sharpay's first line.

And also, I got this idea the same day as posting and worked for two and a half hours to get it out to you guys tonight. So, you're welcome.


End file.
